46

Chapter Forty-Six

William E. “Bill” Sampson

Revised 13 December 2019 by the author Lawrence E Vaughn Jr

When William E. Sampson was born on November 15, 1919, in Carrington, Round Prairie Township, Callaway County, Missouri, his father, ______ was ___ years old, and his mother, _______________, was ____. He had 4 sisters, and 2 brothers. Jerry Sampson and Earl Sampson, and four sisters, Audrey Dindia, Maxine Ward, Jackie (Erna Dean) Clark, and Mary Frances Sampson in infancy.

Bill died at 1:57 a.m. Wednesday, June 4, 2008, at Beth Haven Nursing Home in Hannibal. Services were held Friday, June 6, at Smith Funeral Home & Chapel, with the Rev. Jeff Anderson officiating. Burial, with full military rites was conducted by Emmette J. Shields Post 55, of The American Legion.

World War II Service

Bill served in the U.S. Navy as a machinist mate third class (CASU 5-FFT) from 03May1944 to 09Oct1945, and was separated from the Navy 08Mar1946. He served aboard an aircraft carrier, the USS White Plains (CVE-66) Launched on 27Sep1943 during some of the most intensive fighting of WWII in the South Pacific. See the history of this aircraft carrier below.

In the following collection of photos below, in the top left position is a portrait of Aunt Ruth as I like to remember her. To the right is the front and back of a flirtatious photo she sent to her hubby while he was serving in the U.S. Navy.

In the next row is a family portrait of Ruth, Sharon, and Bill. In the center of the page is Bill’s official Navy photo, and to the right, in front of the trellis, is a four generation photo: from the left is grandmother Rebecca Ann Snider Vaughn holding Sharon Lee Sampson, with Reverend Lemuel Lafayette Vaughn on the right. In the back row is Helen Ruth Vaughn Sampson, and her father, Reverend William Thomas Vaughn.

The bottom row of photos include Helen Ruth Vaughn, age 3, in the middle, top, is Sharon Lee Sampson, age 5, center bottom is a 1919 photo of William Thomas Vaughn holding Helen Ruth. At bottom right is another four generation photo: Sharon Lee, in the arms of her mother, Helen Ruth. In the center is great-grandmother Rebecca Ann Snider Vaughn, and on the right is grandmother, Jessie Beulah Phillips Vaughn.

After his military service

In 1947, he began working at Wendt Sonis in Hannibal, and he retired in 1986 as production foreman from Hannibal Carbide Tool. He was a member of Calvary Baptist Church where he had taught the Men’s Sunday School class.

He was a 37-year member of Emmette J. Shields Post 55, The American Legion, and formerly was a member of I.0.0.F. Lodge, Elks Lodge, Moose Lodge and the V.F.W. He was a charter member and past president of the Northeast Missouri Humane Society, former member and past president of Hannibal High School Booster Club and charter member and past president of Mississippi Valley Gun Club. He graduated from Hannibal High School, with the class of 1938.

He married Helen Ruth Vaughn in Chillicothe, MO, in 1940, and she preceded him in death in 1970. He then married Mary Munger Pestell, and she preceded him in death in 1981. In 1982, he married Dorothea Willis, and she preceded him in death in 1996. In 2000, he married Charlotte Rigg Schoonover, and she preceded him in death in 2001.

Surviving were two daughters, Sharon Lee Sampson (Ron) Walley of Hannibal, and Carol Ann Sampson (Scott) Bridgeman of New London. Also surviving are seven grandchildren, Larry Tischer Jr., Dennis ( Julie) Tischer, Mark { Kirst n) Tischer, Suzie (Doug) Cox, all of Hannibal, Valerie Dodd of Kansas City, Darin Joe (Tammy) Bridgeman of Des Moines, Iowa, and M/ Sgt. Scott Bridgeman of Scott Air Force Base; 16 great -grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren; and one brother, Edward Lee (Mike) {Mary) Sampson of Hannibal. Also surviving are nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, two brothers, Jerry Sampson and Earl Sampson, and four sisters, Audrey Dindia, Maxine Ward, Jackie (Erna Dean) Clark, and Mary Frances Sampson in infancy.

BURIAL: Grand View Burial Park
Hannibal, Ralls County, Missouri
PLOT: C-586-4

Rest In Peace

Obituary:

Son of Ruby Myrtle Kemp & William Earl Sampson, husband of 1) Ruth Vaughn and 2) Mary Munger Pestell and 3) Dorothea Willis and 4) Charlotte Rigg Schoonover

William E. (Bill) Sampson, 88, of Hannibal, died at 1:57 a.m. Wednesday, June 4, 2008, at Beth Haven Nursing Home. Services will be at 1 p.m. Friday, June 6, at Smith Funeral Home & Chapel, with the Rev. Jeff Anderson officiating. Burial with full military rites conducted by Emmette J. Shields Post 55, The American Legion, will be at Grand View Burial Park. Visitation will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. today, June 5, at the Smith Funeral Home & Chapel.

Mr. Sampson was born Nov. 15, 1919, in Carrington to William Earl and Ruby Myrtle Kemp Sampson. He married Ruth Vaughn Sampson in Chillicothe in 1940 and she preceded him in death in 1970. He married Mary Munger Pestell Sampson and she preceded him in death in 1981. In 1982, he married Dorothea Willis Sampson and she preceded him in death in 1996. In 2000, he married Charlotte Rigg Schoonover Sampson and she preceded him in death in 2001.

Surviving are two daughters, Sharon (Ron) Walley of Hannibal and Carol (Scott) Bridgeman of New London. Also surviving are seven grandchildren, Larry Tischer Jr., Dennis (Julie) Tischer, Mark (Kirstin) Tischer, Suzie (Doug) Cox, all of Hannibal, Valorie Dodd of Kansas City, Darin Joe (Tammy) Bridgeman of Des Moines, Iowa, and M/Sgt. Scott Bridgeman of Scott Air Force Base; 16 great-grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren; and one brother, E.L. (Mike) (Mary) Sampson of Hannibal. Also surviving are nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, two brothers, Jerry Sampson and Earl Sampson, and four sisters, Audrey Dindia, Maxine Ward, Jackie (Erna Dean) Clark and Mary Frances Sampson in infancy.

Mr. Sampson served from 1944 to 1946 in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He was a machinist mate third class, serving aboard an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific. In 1947, he began working at Wendt Sonis in Hannibal and he retired in 1986 as production foreman from Hannibal Carbide Tool. He was a member of Calvary Baptist Church where he had taught the Men’s Sunday School class. He was a 37-year member of Emmette J. Shields Post 55, The American Legion, and formerly was a member of I.O.O.F. Lodge, Elk’s Lodge, Moose Lodge and the V.F.W.

He was a charter member and past president of the Northeast Missouri Humane Society, former member and past president of Hannibal High School Booster Club and charter member and past president of Mississippi Valley Gun Club.

He graduated from Hannibal High School, with the class of 1938. He officiated for high school football games for many years. Pallbearers will be Dennis Tischer, Mark Tischer, Darin Joe Bridgeman, Ron Walley, Scott Bridgeman and Doug Cox. Memorials may be made to Northeast Missouri Humane Society or the donor’s choice.

USS WHITE PLAINS (CVE-66)

At the end of May, the White Plains steamed out of port in company with units of the Task Forces assembled to invade the Mariana Islands. The portion of the Fleet containing the White Plains sortied from Eniwetok Atoll, and during the voyage from there to the Marianas, her aircraft provided antisubmarine warfare patrols and part of the combat air patrol. During the assault on Saipan, her planes continued to cover the Fleet against submarine and air attack, strafed the beaches, and spotted shellfire for gunfire support ships. They helped repulse at least three major enemy air attacks. On 17 June, while helping to fight off those raids, her antiaircraft gunners earned their first definite kill. Later, VC-4 Avengers successfully torpedoed an enemy transport during a sweep of the island of Rota.

The USS White Plains departed the combat zone on 2 July but, after a week at Eniwetok, returned to the Marianas with her air squadron upgraded to a total of 28 aircraft. During her second tour of duty in the Marianas, the escort carrier supported the Tinian assault late in July. Her planes carried out sortie after sortie in support of the troops ashore and over the ships assembled, but the White Plains herself suffered no enemy attacks. Her heavy flight schedule proved grueling to air squadron and ship’s company alike.

She completed her participation during the first week in August and departed the Marianas and headed for Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides. She arrived in Segond Channel on 16 August and began preparations for the invasion of the Palau Islands. Those preparations included amphibious support training in the Solomon Islands. The White Plains and ten other aircraft carriers moved into the vicinity of the Palaus during the second week of September. Their planes provided a portion of the prelanding bombardment and support for the troops after the assault on 15 September.

In contrast to the Marianas campaign and later operations, the Palaus, though extremely difficult on the troops ashore, brought little opposition to the ships in the waters surrounding the islands. No enemy air attacks developed because the Japanese were husbanding their aircraft for the defense of the Philippines, and as a result of Japan’s new strategic concept of defense in depth at some distance from the beaches, few shore batteries were sited near enough to the coast to fire upon ships. On 21 September, the White Plains joined the forces detached from the Palau operation for the occupation of Ulithi Atoll, which to everyone’s relief, was undefended.

Battle of Leyte Gulf

In October 1944, after repairs at the naval base at Manus Island in the Admiralty Islands, USS White Plains headed for the invasion of the Philippines at Leyte. The initial assault went forward on 20 October. Aircraft from White Plains provided air support for the troops and ASW and combat air patrols for the ships assembled in Leyte Gulf. However, because of the strategic importance of the Philippines which lay athwart their lines of communication with the East Indies, the Japanese chose to oppose the landings with their surface fleet.

They launched their surface counterattack in three distinct phases. While a decoy force of carriers under Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa moved south from Japan in an attempt to draw off Halsey’s Third Fleet and the large carriers, the forces under Vice Admirals Shōji Nishimura and Kiyohide Shima attempted to force the Surigao Strait from the south, and Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita’s Center Force tried to sneak through the Central Philippines and transit the hopefully unguarded San Bernardino Strait. The Center Force, by far the strongest of the enemy fleets involved, consisted of five battleships – including the huge super battleships Yamato and Musashi – 11 heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and 19 destroyers. By the time Kurita’s Center Force cleared the San Bernardino Strait on 25 October, it had been reduced by four heavy cruisers and the battleship Musashi. Three heavy cruisers had fallen prey to American submarine attacks in Palawan Passage on 23 October, and Musashi and Myōkō succumbed to Task Force 38’s air attacks in the Sibuyan Sea on the following day. Musashi sank there, and Myōkō headed back to Brunei Bay, heavily damaged. In addition, on the night of 24 October and 25 October, Vice Admiral Oldendorf’s old battleships in Leyte Gulf obliterated Nishimura’s force and sent Shima’s packing.

In the meantime, after Admiral Halsey received information indicating that a battered Center Force had begun retirement, Ozawa’s decoy force finally managed to draw the American carriers off to the north. However, Kurita’s retrograde movement proved to be only temporary, and he once again reversed course and headed back toward San Bernardino Strait. With Oldendorf regrouping his warships in Leyte Gulf and Halsey off chasing the Japanese Navy’s aircraft carriers, only three Task Groups—composed of escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts—remained off Samar island between Kurita and Leyte Gulf.

USS White Plains was an element of “Taffy 3,” the northmost of the three Task Groups, and the one which bore the brunt of Kurita’s surface onslaught. “Taffy 3”, commanded by Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague, first learned of Kurita’s presence when, at 0637, a pilot on routine air patrol spotted Kurita’s task force and attacked it with depth charges. Rear Admiral Sprague was incredulous about the presence of the Japanese Navy, and he demanded identification verification—which came, disconcertingly enough, when the enemy battleships’ pagoda-style masts loomed over the horizon.

Yamato opened fire at 0659 at an estimated range of 34,544 yards, targeting White Plains with her first four salvoes. Yamato’s third salvo was a close straddle landing at 07:04. One shell from this salvo exploded beneath the turn of White Plains port bilge near frame 142, near her aft (starboard) engine room. While the ship was not struck directly, the mining effect of the under-keel explosion severely damaged her hull, deranged her starboard machinery and tripped all of the circuit breakers in her electrical network. Prompt and effective damage control restored power and communications within three minutes and she was able to remain in formation by overspeeding her port engine to compensate. The black smoke resulting from the sudden loss of boiler intake air pressure convinced Yamato and Nagato (which was also firing her main battery at White Plains at the time) that they had scored a direct hit and they shifted fire to other targets.

For the next two and one-half hours, the Japanese force chased “Taffy 3” southward and subjected the escort carriers and their counterattacking screen to a heavy-caliber cannonade. The aircraft carriers’ warplanes fought back, even making dummy runs on the Japanese ships to slow the ships’ speed of advance after expending all their bombs, torpedoes, and ammunition. During their counterattacks, USS Johnston, Hoel, and Samuel B. Roberts were sunk by gunfire. Later, USS Gambier Bay was sunk by gunfire as well, while USS Fanshaw Bay, USS Kalinin Bay, Dennis, and Heermann suffered heavy damage.

During the surface phase of the action White Plains’s 5-inch gun crew claimed six hits on heavy cruiser Chōkai.[2] It was initially believed that one of these hits caused the Chokai’s Type 93 “Long Lance” torpedoes to explode, crippling Chōkai and making it vulnerable to air attack. However, the 2019 discovery by the RV Petrel of the wreck of the Chōkai with her torpedoes intact disproved this theory. Chōkai was later sunk by planes from Ommaney Bay (CVE-79), an escort carrier of Taffy 2. Haguro’s detailed action report states that Chokai’s immobilizing damage resulted from a bomb hit at 0851.

The Japanese surface force broke off its pursuit from 0912–0917 hours, and after milling around in apparent confusion for a time, retired northward to San Bernardino Strait. The retreat by Kurita’s surface force, however, did not end the ordeal for White Plains and her fellow warships. After a 90-minute respite, they suffered harassment from a different quarter. At 1050 hours, a formation of nine Japanese Navy Zeke fighters appeared and began simultaneous kamikaze attacks. Two of them singled out White Plains as their victim. Her antiaircraft gunners responded, hitting one of the intruders, which immediately changed course and crashed into USS St. Lo, which eventually sank. The other aircraft continued on toward White Plains, but her antiaircraft guns finally brought him down yards astern, scattering debris all over the ship’s deck and sides, but causing only 11 relatively minor casualties.

In the meantime, USS Kitkun Bay and USS Kalinin Bay also suffered from kamikaze crashes, but neither of these proved to be fatal to the carriers. That attack proved to be the final combat action of the USS White Plains. She steamed to the naval base at Manus with the other surviving carriers, arriving on 31 October. After an inspection of the damage, it was decided that the battered escort carrier should return to the United States for complete repairs. Accordingly, she departed from Manus on 6 November and headed to the West Coast, arriving at San Diego Harbor on 27 November; repairs began immediately.

Ready for action once more, USS White Plains steamed out of San Diego on 19 January 1945. However, concern about the lingering effects of the hull and machinery damage suffered at Samar kept her off the front lines and she was assigned to ferrying replacement aircraft from their factories in the United States to bases in the western Pacific for the remainder of the war.

During the last months of the war, White Plains visited Kwajalein, Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura), Ulithi, Saipan, Guam, Leyte, and Pearl Harbor. All had been scenes of major combat actions in the past, but by this time they had become rear areas. The closest approach to the fighting by White Plains after the Battle off Samar came just after the amphibious landings on Okinawa in April 1945, when she steamed to within 100 miles of the island to launch two squadrons of Marine Corps F4U Corsair fighter planes for duty from air bases on that large island.

Post-War
The end of hostilities in mid-August found the USS White Plains en route from Pearl Harbor to the West Coast. She arrived at San Pedro, California, on 22 August but soon moved to San Diego. From there, she headed back to the Western Pacific on 6 September to begin Operation Magic Carpet duty bringing American fighting men home from the Pacific Theater. Twenty days later, she arrived in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, where she embarked more than 800 passengers for the voyage to the United States.

On 28 September, she pointed her bow eastward and set a course, via Pearl Harbor, for San Diego. The White Plains entered San Diego Harbor on 16 October and disembarked her passengers. After nine days in port, she got underway for Pearl Harbor and stopped there only briefly on 1 November before setting out on the return voyage to the West Coast. The warship visited San Francisco for five days from 7 to 12 November and then headed across the Pacific once more.

She entered port at Guam in the Marianas on 27 November, embarked passengers, and then began the return voyage on 30 November. White Plains arrived in Seattle, Washington, on 14 December 1945. She remained there until 30 January 1946, when she embarked upon the voyage, via the Panama Canal and Norfolk, Virginia, to Boston, Massachusetts. The White Plains entered Boston Harbor on 17 February 1946, and then began preparations for decommissioning.